The National Guard Experience

If you have ever wondered what the National Guard does, then you should take a few minutes to look at their new online tool from Epic, which allows you to create a custom music video set to footage from National Guard experiences.

Create a Custom National Guard Experience Music Video:

1. Choose a theme for your video:

The National Guard remix gives you 3 choices for the theme of your Erpic video – operations, Bootstraps, & Relief. Operations is just what it sounds like – the video footage features National Guardsmen in the thick of operational duties. Bootstraps focuses on the experience of bootcamp and initial military training. I went through Basic Military Training in the USAF, but this video sequence brought back a lot of memories! The third theme is Relief, which is one of hte major focuses of National Guard work – bringing aid and relief to Americans in response to naturual disasters and other events. These videos will give you a better idea of what it is National Guardsmen and women actually do on a day to fday basis.

2. Choose music soundtrack

The next step is to choose your soundtrack – you can select from Rock, country, Pop, and hip hop. You can randomize your selection, or go with the one that fits your personality the best.

3. customize video focus

Next up is customizing the focus of your video. You will have a few choices to select from, which will vary depending on which theme you chose. For example, I chose relief the first time I made a video and I was given three options to focus on: Wind, water, and fire, which represent three major types of emergencies the National Guard might respond to (hurricanes and other storms, floods, and wildfires). The operations video lets you choose from aviation, troops, and tanks, and the Bootstraps video gives you option of choosing from medical, aviation, and communication. The video is raw and real – it gave me a feeling of respect and admiration of what our National Guard does for us on a daily basis.

4. Mix soundtrack and add effects

This is where the fun comes in – you can mix your video with different sound effects and volume levels for the soundtrack you selected. For example, you can increase the bass and certain instruments, add shouting and sound effects, add sound effect transitions in the video, and more. The only thing I would add is the ability to make the transitions on the fly (you have to start over at the beginning each time you make a change). But it’s still a cool tool for creating a video.

5. Connect to FaceBook and share with friends and family

You have the option of connecting the video and your FaceBook account and sharing with your friends and family, or you can choose to manually share the video with whomever you wish. You can see my video experience here. Unfortunately, you don’t get the code to upload it to your own site, so you can only share it with a link, or via FaceBook and social media.

One thing I should mention – if you use your real name and location, it will show up in the video (which is a really cool effect!).

If you want to skip the customization, then check out this video from last year’s promotion: Moments of Pride, which also allows you to input your name and location, but doesn’t require as much work in selecting your theme, topic, music, etc. The video is a strong reminder of what our Guard does for us on a regular basis.

For more information about the National Guard call 1-800-GO-GUARD, or visit your local recruiting station.

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Ryan Guina is the founder and editor of this site. He is a writer, small business owner, and entrepreneur. He served over 6 years on active duty in the USAF and is currently serving in the IL Air National Guard. He also writes about money management, small business, and career topics at Cash Money Life. You can also see his profile on Google.

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